All we want to do is eat your brains

Above: Rand and Erin. I was delighted to find out that Erin is thinking about starting to sing in front of people. She's apprehensive, so please do go over to her blog and encourage her.

Yesterday, I posted about an odd peanut snack courtesy my friends Alison and Jeff. Turns out that some of you don't think this nutty offering was as strange as I did.



From ldwheeler:

"Ah, that Peanut Patch label stirs up some memories ... my father was born and raised in south Georgia and throughout his life was a connoisseur of South/Southeast U.S. cuisine -- collard greens, cornbread, grits, blackeyed peas and so forth, and he considered boiled green peanuts to be the candy of the soil. Though he preferred to buy 'em from roadside stands or farmers throughout Georgia and north Florida whenever he could, most family vacations ended with clearing a big hole in the trunk of the station wagon for two to five cases of Peanut Patch product. (At least one of the cases was for Peanut Proselytzing purposes, an endeavor in which he wasn't all that successful. Which was all to the better: More peanuts for him!

He's been gone nearly 11 years now ... and until a few months ago, I still had a can of Peanut Patch sitting around in the cupboard. I finally fired up the brine and ate 'em. Not something I'd want to have every day (though he would have). But still mighty good."

From surrdave:

"I do like boiled peanuts (properly, the i is pronounced as another long o). The roadside stands are the best, though they have them at the ballpark as well. Seasonal, though. And downright unpleasant when cooled off.

The recommended method is to squeeze the shell until the soft pea shoots down your throat, while the brine runs down your forearm. Food as a sport isn't confined to the way it's cooked."

Wow. :-D While the "recommended method" sounds appealingly messy, I'm not sure if I'll get any chance to try this soon. I do admit I'm intrigued, though.



Hey, I just noticed that Tony Fabris has his OVFF pics online. Some fun pics here, and I especially like this one of Paul leaning on me during a concert. He has also a GREAT video of Paul's reaction when he walked into the restaurant and saw the rest of Puzzlebox waiting for him (2nd row down, 3rd over).


Tony was a great Interfilk guest at OVFF this year, and I very much enjoyed hearing his concert as well as his performances in open filk. My only complaint is that the songs he sings are so catchy and infectious that they tend to stick in one's head WAY too long. :-)

I especially had trouble getting his Zombies song out of my brain (especially the silly chorus line: "ALL WE WANT TO DO IS EAT YOUR BRAINS!"). Tony says the song was written by Jonathan Coulton. Here's a Quicktime video of Coulton teaching the chorus to an audience before performing the song (WARNING: don't blame me if you get the chorus stuck in your head, too). There's also a YouTube video where you can hear the lyrics more clearly. I really really want to see this guy in concert! You can find more Jonathan Coulton songs at his Web site.

Anyway, Michelle Dockrey joined Tony on many of the songs in his concert. Michelle, whom I have raved about before, is as an amazing harmony singer as she is a lead singer. Michelle and Tony will be GoHs at FilKONtario in 2008 (not next year, but the year after).

You can find out more about Tony Fabris at GeekHackFilk.com.

Below: Tony and Michelle.



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Baby bunnies on his underwear

Don't forget to put your clocks back, everyone!

Above: Excerpt from a Garageband file I'm using to help me write a song for Urban Tapestry (Allison, Jodi and me) and Summer and Fall (Eva and Crystal from Germany) to perform at GAfilk in January.

This is the first time I've written a multi-part song this way, making up each vocal part by singing it onto a recording, writing the lyrics/chords as I go in a separate text file. I usually write the music out on manuscript paper and then record it to see if all the parts sound okay together. The advantage of the recording method is that it's more spontaneous...it's much easier to experiment with twiddling different vocal parts and then hearing how they sound against the others right away. This way, I can also send files to the singers with ONLY their vocal parts as well as the song as a whole, to make it easier for them to learn.


The disadvantage is that I don't have a written score; that's something I would have to do manually. This is only something I'd have to worry about, though, if the singers need the written score or when I start working on the next Urban Tapestry songbook.

Anyway, I completed about half of the song when I got very discouraged about how it was going. I very nearly decided to scrap the whole thing, but decided to send it to Allison and Jodi to see what they thought. Both of them were HUGELY encouraging and excited about learning the song, and suddenly I was re-motivated as well. Incidents like this make me especially grateful for my music partners.



While I was waiting for their feedback, however, I decided to give a shot at writing another song. I ended up writing the entire thing in a couple hours. It was one of those songs that kind of pours out of you all at once; I love when that happens. It's also a song I needed to write after some of the negativestuff that's been happening in the LJ filk community recently. Looks like we might put it in our GAfilk concert.

Speaking of GAfilk, I went around at last weekend's convention with the Kathleen Sloan cookbook I mentioned in a previous Blathering. Kathleen signed it and several filkers added illustrations and cartoons, including Beckett Gladney, Seanan McGuire, Adam English, Taunya Gren (?I think she added pics? though I might be wrong), Gary Ehrlich, and Michelle Dockrey. If you added a cartoon and I didn't list your name, please let me know! Yes, even a feeble cartoon. :-) I've also been adding cartoons, and will be adding more.


Filkers added horrible puns (esp. Mary Crowell! She has such a wonderfully twisted sense of humour), pseudo recipe reviews, "corrections," helpful pointers etc. Filkers who have signed so far include: Amy McNally, Alisa Garcia, Tom Smith, Paul Kwinn, Adam English, Rand Bellavia, Erin Nappe, Luis Garcia, Becca Leathers, Cat Faber, John Caspell, Graham Leathers, Jan di Masi, Jane Garthson, Sue Posteraro, Tom Jeffers, Gary Ehrlich, Sheryl Ehrlich, Deanna R., Brooke Lunderville, Michael Blair, Mary Crowell, Mary Bertke, Sue, and a number of other filkers whose signatures I couldn't decipher. :-) If you did sign the book and don't see your name above, please let me know!

I will bring the cookbook to GAfilk for more people to sign, and will donate it to the Interfilk auction at the convention. Meanwhile, I'll be posting choice excerpts from people's contributions from OVFF between now and GAfilk.



Just over two months until GAfilk, woohoo! VERY much looking forward to this convention. Speaking of Georgia ... Jeff and I went to a lovely dinner party last night, hosted by our friends Alison and Jeff, where Alison let us sample some Green Boiled Peanuts she had picked up at some peanut festival in Georgia recently. I seemed to be one of the only ones who liked them, though I admit I wasn't as crazy about them after they cooled down, plus the slimy exterior (from being boiled in brine, I think) is definitely a turn-off.

But back to OVFF. Especially Paul Kwinn.

Paul is the main reason that all three Urban Tapestry members finally made it to OVFF this year; he was Toastmaster at this year's convention. We've been close pals with Paul and Beckett for many years, and Allison & Paul are especially good friends. Paul is a member of Puzzlebox, and he was disappointed to find that his group members wouldn't be able to attend OVFF.

Or so he thought.

It turns out that things worked out so that they COULD attend, but they decided to surprise him. Check out the look on Paul's face when he walked into a restaurant on Friday afternoon for lunch near the convention hotel and saw Alisa, Luis, and Taunya waiting for him:



Heh.



A few days before the convention, a burst of inspiration hit me and I wrote a very silly song about Paul in about an hour. Feeling a wee bit guilty (I knew both Jodi & Allison were busy), I sent the lyrics/chords and soundfile to my music partners and grovelled. Especially to Allison, since she had to learn a new guitar part in addition to the melody. :-)

And yay! They both learned the song...we practiced it for the first time at the hotel before going up on stage at the one-shot and performing it. We sang it again at the Sunday Night filk because Beckett hadn't heard it yet, and this time a lot of people sang along on the chorus, and those sitting around Paul were waving baby bunny signs. I was very happy.

Anyway, here it is:

PAUL STANLEY KWINN
By Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Oct/2006

CHORUS (singalong):
Dm     C     Dm       C
Paul, Paul, Stanley Kwinn
Dm            C             Dm            C
He's a technonerdboy and we love his evil grin
Dm     C    Dm      C
Paul, Paul, Stanley Kwinn
A             Dm
He has a hairy chin! (HEY!)


Dm   C         Dm   C
When Paul was two
Dm         C     Dm
He had a dog named Schmoo
C
(Jodi & Debbie: He fed it Jelly Bellies)
Dm    C        Dm    C
When Paul was three
Dm          C   Dm
He had a sock named Squee
C
(Jodi & Debbie) It was kinda smelly

Allison:
G                   F
He knew that he was different but he
Dm            C Dm C
didn't care!
(Everyone, waving bunny signs:)
G            F               Dm        C Dm C
He had baby bunnies on his underwear!



CHORUS

When Paul was four
he chewed on his front door
(and he got half-way through)
When Paul was five
he was still alive
(not like his dog Schmoo)
He knew that he was different but he
didn't care!
He had baby bunnies on his underwear!

CHORUS

Now Paul's all grown
With wife and kids and home
(of which he is so proud)
In Puzzlebox
No longer names his socks
(at least not out loud)
He knows that he is different but he
doesn't care!
Still has baby bunnies on his underwear!

CHORUS x 2

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Closure

The illustration below was created in Corel Painter IX for Illustration Friday. This week's topic: "Wind."



In a post I made several days ago, I described an incident at an early OVFF where a flautist's comment turned me off the convention for years. Well, I heard from that flautist a day later! At least we both theorize she was probably the same person.

I thought it incredibly brave of her to contact me, especially since I had already admitted in the comments section that the incident took place so long ago that I didn't even remember what the unidentified person looked like. It turns out that she and I did meet in person after that in a much more positive setting, but neither of us connected the other with that incident.

Anyway, it turns out that she was having a bad weekend. A REALLY bad weekend. "...If that was me, I do apologize -- I'd hate to think that I managed to make someone else even more miserable than I was at that convention." Both of us have come a long way since that OVFF, I think.

I'm not mentioning her name because I'm unsure about whether she minds being identified publicly or not, but she does at least occasionally read Blatherings: THANK YOU! For being so brave, and for providing some unexpected and much appreciated closure.



My goals this weekend: finish comics for NaNoWriMo, finish writing a song (possibly even TWO songs) as well as recording my flute part for Seanan's CD, finish my contribution to the Christmas Ornament Exchange.



As I mentioned in my LJ, I'm excited to have gotten tickets to see Wicked with my friend Lyanne in December! I've heard many good things about the show, and I loved Gregory Maguire's novel of the same name.

Just finished Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton. I can SO see this book being turned into a movie.

And finally, I LOVE MY HOME OFFICE. Yes, I've raved about my basement office before, but I must rave some more. "Heading down to your Cave?" Jeff will ask as I descend the steps to the basement, steaming mug of cinnamon tea (thanks, Beckett!) in one hand, books in the other.

I love having my own creative space. I love looking around and see my books piled everywhere (yes, the shelves have already filled up and I'm resorting to piles now), my painted office tree with its various ornaments from friends, my craft table, musical instruments, Patrick Stewart and Ruth Ohi posters, my magnetic wall. I even inherited Jeff's lava lamp! Yes, my office is that classy.

Must write music now...




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Beckett's photos

Above: Beckett and Paul. Photo taken by Alisa on Beckett's camera, cropped by Beckett.


Congrats to my sister, whose book Clara And The Bossy has been nominated for a Blue Spruce Award! The Blue Spruce Award is a provincial primary reading program which brings recently published Canadian children's picture books to Ontario children ages 4 to 7 in kindergarten through to grade two. Students will read 10 nominated Canadian picture books and then vote for their favourite book. Based on student voting across the province, the best picture book is then selected and the author/illustrator is honoured with the Blue Spruce Award. Yay, Ruth!

My friend Beckett recently posted photos she took at OVFF in her Flickr account. Beckett is a fantastic artist and photographer, and has given permission for me to post some of her photos here. You can see Beckett's art at Artbeco.com.

Mary Bertke, at the Pegasus Banquet:





I love the gorgeous lines in the photo above (as gorgeous as Mary herself :-). Beckett is SO great at capturing the essence of people or a scene.

Me, Jodi and Allison:




I *love* this photo of Andrea:




Watching Mary Bertke's band Aisling perform; the fiddle and whistle players kept making funny faces at me because I was so excited:




Allison and Paul:





Luis and Alisa:




Alisa, Taunya, Beckett (photo by Paul):




Paul:




You can see more of Beckett's photos in her Flickr set.. And hey, I just noticed that she's uploaded some new pics...

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Will Write For Chocolate (and OVFF highlights Part 2)

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated.

Caught up with adminstuff and approved an article galley for Writer's Digest magazine yesterday before finally finishing unpacking from the weekend. I have two illustration jobs due tomorrow, plus I want to get back to my novel writing. To sum up: I'm not going to be able to post a proper report of OVFF this year, sorry. Instead, I'll be posting occasional highlights over the next couple of weeks.

Me, Allison, Taunya, Adam and Jodi.

Besides, there are already a ton of convention reports out there. Rob Wynne is compiling a comprehensive list, for those interested. For an Urban Tapestry perspective, please do check Allison's Livejournal and her OVFF Flickr pics.

And hey, there are even photos of ME in there. :-) I generally don't get pics of me in my own OVFF Flickr set unless they are posed close-ups ('cuz I'm holding the camera out in front of me and another person). Here are a few of my favourite Allison shots:

-- Group pile on the 'girl bed:' Taunya, me, Seanan, Becca, Michelle, Erin.

-- Me stealing some of Jodi's mousse: After the 'Torch Song' segment of the Pegasus concert, Mark Bernstein generously offered participants decadent chocolate mousse. Congrats to Talis Kimberley for winning with her song, X Libris! You can read the lyrics here. Since Talis was unable to attend the convention, Erica Neely did a marvellously sultry performance of the song.

-- My temporary tattoo: Courtesy Beckett Gladney with her tattoo markers.


-- Seanan teaching me a clapping game: One of my con highlights, by the way, was the amazing Seanan McGuire. Though I had heard rumours and seen pics, nothing could adequately prepare me for the massively slimmed-down dynamo that is Seanan. HOLY COW, she looks fantastic. I have huge admiration for Seanan for deciding to do something and then sticking with it.

Her singing and songwriting have also taken off since I first met her years ago. She was a delight to hang out with at OVFF, wherever she went: always enhancing the con atmosphere...and she wasn't even a guest! :-D

Seanan WILL be a guest, however, at Conterpoint 2007 on June 22-24 next year, in Rockville, Maryland. GoH: Wild Mercy, Toastmaster: John Hall, Interfilk Guest: Seanan McGuire. Lordy, I wish I could afford to go to this...with the guest roster, it sounds like it's going to be an amazing convention!

During OVFF, Seanan and I had a schtick going where we would fall into "lovestruck lovers" mode and compete to see who could be the most effective. Seanan creamed me...that woman has an incredible talent for improvisation, and would launch into impassioned flights of poetic fancy that would have me in hysterics within seconds, unable to come up with even a single coherent phrase. I adore Seanan.

:-D

Urban Tapestry's next convention: GAfilk in Atlanta, GA (just over 2 months away!) At this point, it looks like it will be the only out-of-town convention that all three of us will be attending next year. Woohoo, and we're Guests of Honor!

Below: Tanya Huff fending me off. I love Michelle Dockrey's Flickr comment: "Wow. You look like you were drawn by Shel Silverstein. :)" Allison took this photo.



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